20/20 Vision

You are 20 months old, if you can believe that. This is unfolding as such a fun time and all three of us seem to be soaking it up as much as possible. We laugh more. We hang out more. Such a little guy. Here you go – 20 things at 20 months:

You LOVE to be tickled. Your meaty, yummy little thighs seem to be a hot spot. Also, your laugh is one of my favorite things in the world. A must see.

We're not 100% over the biting thing. I keep thinking we are, but we regress.

You've started to prefer some foods over others whereas until recently you were up for just about anything. If you don't care for something on your tray, your first reaction is to politely hand it back to me. You stick out your little fist, filled with Cheerios or turkey or whatever food you don't care for at the moment and wait till I take it. If I don't comply, you resort to scooting things off your tray onto the floor.

You look a little like me when you smile.

When it's time to put your coat on to leave for school in the morning, you think it's HILARIOUS to dive at me hands first, putting your coat on Snuggie-style. Then you laugh at your joke, turn around and put your arms in correctly. I'm certain you think you are getting one over on us every morning.

You have always been a good sleeper (which you clearly get from me) but you're an early riser (which you clearly get from your Paw). So you boys have breakfast together each morning while I either sleep another few minutes or grab my shower before the rest of the morning begins.

Lately, you've been very content to sit between your Paw and me on the couch during our favorite shows. You plop yourself either on the middle cushion or directly on top of me, milk cup under your arm like a football, and pretend to watch the show with us. You even burst out laughing when we do. Or when a dog or cat walks into the scene.

Oh no! You've officially said your first word. "Oh no!" Not Mama. Not Dada. Not bottle or milk or night-night. "Oh no!" And we giggle every time. If you drop something – oh no! If I forget to close the pantry door behind me – you run over and shut the door – oh no! Soooo cute.

You are a slave to the rhythm. You will dance to anything from the Sprout intro song to the NBC Nightly News theme. You hear a single note and you look up at us, put both hands above your head and shake your booty to the music. It is cute every. Single. Time.

You have two favorite sleeping positions: 1. on your tummy, bottom in the air, arms either tucked under you or straight out to the side, and 2. on your back, limbs sprawled. I check on you every night before I go to bed and I usually stand there for a second, listening to your little snoring. Sleeping babies are honestly the most peaceful thing I've ever seen.

Speaking of bedtime, you love it! You get jammied and we brush your teeth, then most times you literally run in the direction of your room as we say night-night to Paw. When we get to your room, you extend your little arms, asking me to pick you up, then nuzzle your face into my neck for a few minutes and twirl my hair around your fingers until you're ready to go to bed. I drop you in your crib and you're usually zonked in no time. (I am fully aware that it will likely not always be this easy. I try not to think about it.)

You are loving using a fork, but it's usually WAY too slow and you cheat with your fingers when you think I'm not looking.

There are a handful of cats that live in our neighborhood and you are constantly monitoring them out the window. They walk along our backyard fence and you don't let them get out of line. If you're really lucky you catch a glimpse of one of the bunnies that loiter out there, too.

We tried to read books at bedtime. You LOVE books. But it quickly became clear that you weren't as interested in the "reading" of the books as you were in the physical turning of the pages. And we weren't even reading the books anymore, just rapidly turning pages and then moving on to the next one. And my original plan of 'three books each night' went out the window as we were "reading" every book on the shelf every night. So. We nixed book-reading from the bedtime routine. I am certain it will be back someday. I hope it's someday soon.

Your love for the ladies is going strong. I lost sight of you for a minute after church last week and I looked up to see you on the hip of a cute little 8 year old girl, smiling and flirting and totally at home. *sigh*

You've never been that interested in waving bye-bye, but your teachers at daycare taught you to blow kisses for bye-bye. So now when we leave school every afternoon, we blow kisses at everyone we see between your classroom and the car. It's pretty darn adorable. You also blow me kisses when you leave for school with your Paw in the mornings. And anytime one of us puts our shoes on.

I saw you hug a little girl in your class last week and I about melted right on the spot. You were sharing a toy xylophone and I was holding my breath, a little worried as there was a mallet involved and that could go bad pretty quickly. But you took turns playing with it and when it was her turn to bang on the xylophone keys, you reached over and gave her the sweetest little hug. Even now, it gets me.

You think peaches and apples equal candy. And I'm ok with that.

I can still count on you to help me in the kitchen and on laundry day. You have gotten quite good at "helping" me put away groceries and dragging your laundry basket from your bedroom to the washer. I encourage this as much as possible – of course!

You think belly buttons are hilarious. And it's your favorite thing to point to during our 'Where's your nose/ears/hair/feet? game'.

I have the best Grandson and he is so lucky to have the wonderful parents he was blessed with! Each year will become “the best year”. I know, as I have lived through nearly 30 “best years”. Hugs to all!